I was reading today about farmers' soil in this Food and Extreme Weather: It's the Soil, Stupid article. The differences between the 2 types of dirt - dirt vs soil - in the picture is obvious even without knowing much.
I live in a very tiny house, with a yard that's sadly small, but I do try to grow pretty flowers, tomatoes and strawberries successfully. A couple of years ago I bought dirt (called soil) - yes, paid money for dirt. But it's GOOD dirt: a mix of compost and topsoil. The dirt that came with the house sucks. Really. It's full of rocks and clay, so I had to buy dirt (oops, soil) to have something for roots to be happy growing in.
One problem I have is a huge shortage of money and dreams bigger than the days of summer, so buying more good dirt every time I want to grow more is simply not an option. So why not "make" good dirt (actual garden soil)? Enter the search for compost, is it worth it? How do I do it? and last but not least, how long does it take? It's not actually called dirt though, it's soil. Yet another word difference I need to remember is important.
With all the pages, stories, and guides online I like this one the most. So next I have to pick a spot and get going! Ugh... waiting for winter to end can be so frustrating! It's awfully cold to be working outside still. So planning is all I can do for now. Will update with pics as soon as the thermometer goes up a bit :)
Oh, and by the way, there's a big difference not only between dirt & soil, but also differences between potting soil and potting mix.
Inspiration from Rosemary Verey
Sometimes plans change. Priorities change. That happened to me yet again this week. With the days getting longer, and the break in the Winter weather, my lovely neighbors took it upon themselves to build a carport this last weekend. I understand the near need for one for their children to have a dryer place to play outside during the long rainy seasons here, however, I'm utterly disappointed. The shear ugliness of it instantly sent me in to depression. Instead of the clear view I had over the fence seeing their house in the distance and majestic pine trees nearby, I now see the edge of carport lumber with metal and plastic ridged sheeting nailed haphazardly as a light substitute for a roof. I've lost the feeling of distance between yards & lost open space, and am now faced with glaring construction only a few feet away from and over the top of the fence line. Encroached upon, that's how I feel, even though it's certainly their right to build such a thing, I'm still negatively affected. So I did as usual for me: I panicked, felt anger then guilt for feeling angry, then started searching for solutions.
After all the work done last year, right up until the Fall rains began, I had finally achieved a good-looking and functional side yard. Countless bricks laid in my own unique pattern, 2 sitting chairs flanking my huge family room window, 2 nicely sized cedar planter boxes I had carefully built and placed just-so. I even arranged planters perfectly around the front door section inviting visitors to stop and smell the flowers, sit and chat a while, and just for me to sit and enjoy the cool evening breezes during summer. I thought I had perfectly utilized the 7' x 25' fenced area between the short fence at the front of the house and the 6' fence leading to my private back garden. Now I must think vertically, with only a 7' width to use to hide the edge of the new carport, 1' over the 6' fence. If I could make the fence taller - that would be the quick and easy way, I would - but a 6' height is the legal maximum, so now I have a new vertical gardening adventure.
I started by double-checking my measurements, and sneaking right up to and over the fence line with a measuring tape to find out exactly how high I need for new plants such as bushes, vines, or miniature trees to grow. A foot over the 6' fence would probably suffice, but 18" over would surely do the trick. Using Google's image search for hours upon hours I looked out & bookmarked dozens of vines growing on trellises, arbors with crosspieces to hang plants from, evergreens that don't grow too wide, endless styles of lattice - all focusing on tall and narrow.
Then realizing that I don't have to just plant right next to the fence, I braved the cool weather to pound some galvanized nails into the eaves on the west side of my house which now faces this new carport. I then quickly hung 7 plastic planters of various sizes in a random fashion, imagining all the types of flowering plants I will enjoy seeing trailing over the edges in a few months time. For now they're mostly empty, with only a few having some "good" dirt in them, waiting for something, anything to be planted. Fuchsias are my most favorite hanging plant, though they're not available just yet, and I may not fill all the pots with the same thing, I can imagine them in full bloom providing a beautiful view looking out from the biggest window in my house blocking the neighbors creation. Of course this won't make the view to the west any nicer while standing or sitting outside, it will help with blocking the unsightly construction from view when I open the curtains inside the family room.
The the last couple of weeks have held quite a few Spring like days, though we're still in mid-Winter. The thought of another month or more of Winter weather didn't dawn on me until I checked the weather forecast earlier this evening. Right at the very top of the forecast page was an alert for a storm coming this Friday, with snow down to the 1000' elevation. Usually this would be a frustrating reminder that I've got to wait at least another month before beginning planting outside, but this year, it's a silver lining. I can view it as an extra month or so to get together a plan of action for this side yard while I wait for veggie planting time in the backyard. (I'm still emotional about having to spend more time right off on this side yard instead of jumping right into the backyard, but like I said, my priorities have changed - I'm so not willing to stare at the edge of that carport any more days than absolutely necessary.)
Planting for small spaces is a much discussed topic online and in books, too. There are some dedicated to the subject, by many publishers. I have a few of those books by Better Homes & Gardens and the like, but I rather enjoy the pictures more than the words, so Google image search makes me happiest. I ended up searching English gardens for ideas, clicked on an image link - and another and another - and ended up spending much time reading an interesting article called Lessons From A Legendary Gardener. Now this is definitely not an article about small space gardening or even vertical garden planning, but it was entertaining and did give me some good direction about planning a Winter garden. Rosemary Verey loves her garden in the winter, I watched the video thinking she'd be a little ol' crazy lady but she wasn't! She honestly did have a true appreciation of plants, trees & bushes in cold & snowy circumstances. Hmm, odd, but not crazy!
Here in the Northwest, Summer is the shortest season of them all, followed and preceded by the rainy season which usually has a snow season tucked somewhere in the middle. That's how I look at it: Summer season & Rain season. I live in a wetland surrounded my rainforests - not technically, no, but figuratively yes. Why then should I focus on annual Spring or Fall flowers? It just makes sense to plan first and foremost for cold & wet. 3 months of a nice garden with 9 months of sad, or 9 months of nice with 3 months of fantastic! Rosemary Verey said she liked to focus on the evergreens in gardens first, so that's exactly what I'm going to try. Why plant pretty things to hide that hideous carport in the Summer season but then be forced to view it during the other 9 months of the year? Yay! I have gone from desperate idea gathering to at least 1 good idea. Thank you Ms. Verey. :)
After all the work done last year, right up until the Fall rains began, I had finally achieved a good-looking and functional side yard. Countless bricks laid in my own unique pattern, 2 sitting chairs flanking my huge family room window, 2 nicely sized cedar planter boxes I had carefully built and placed just-so. I even arranged planters perfectly around the front door section inviting visitors to stop and smell the flowers, sit and chat a while, and just for me to sit and enjoy the cool evening breezes during summer. I thought I had perfectly utilized the 7' x 25' fenced area between the short fence at the front of the house and the 6' fence leading to my private back garden. Now I must think vertically, with only a 7' width to use to hide the edge of the new carport, 1' over the 6' fence. If I could make the fence taller - that would be the quick and easy way, I would - but a 6' height is the legal maximum, so now I have a new vertical gardening adventure.
I started by double-checking my measurements, and sneaking right up to and over the fence line with a measuring tape to find out exactly how high I need for new plants such as bushes, vines, or miniature trees to grow. A foot over the 6' fence would probably suffice, but 18" over would surely do the trick. Using Google's image search for hours upon hours I looked out & bookmarked dozens of vines growing on trellises, arbors with crosspieces to hang plants from, evergreens that don't grow too wide, endless styles of lattice - all focusing on tall and narrow.
Then realizing that I don't have to just plant right next to the fence, I braved the cool weather to pound some galvanized nails into the eaves on the west side of my house which now faces this new carport. I then quickly hung 7 plastic planters of various sizes in a random fashion, imagining all the types of flowering plants I will enjoy seeing trailing over the edges in a few months time. For now they're mostly empty, with only a few having some "good" dirt in them, waiting for something, anything to be planted. Fuchsias are my most favorite hanging plant, though they're not available just yet, and I may not fill all the pots with the same thing, I can imagine them in full bloom providing a beautiful view looking out from the biggest window in my house blocking the neighbors creation. Of course this won't make the view to the west any nicer while standing or sitting outside, it will help with blocking the unsightly construction from view when I open the curtains inside the family room.
The the last couple of weeks have held quite a few Spring like days, though we're still in mid-Winter. The thought of another month or more of Winter weather didn't dawn on me until I checked the weather forecast earlier this evening. Right at the very top of the forecast page was an alert for a storm coming this Friday, with snow down to the 1000' elevation. Usually this would be a frustrating reminder that I've got to wait at least another month before beginning planting outside, but this year, it's a silver lining. I can view it as an extra month or so to get together a plan of action for this side yard while I wait for veggie planting time in the backyard. (I'm still emotional about having to spend more time right off on this side yard instead of jumping right into the backyard, but like I said, my priorities have changed - I'm so not willing to stare at the edge of that carport any more days than absolutely necessary.)
Planting for small spaces is a much discussed topic online and in books, too. There are some dedicated to the subject, by many publishers. I have a few of those books by Better Homes & Gardens and the like, but I rather enjoy the pictures more than the words, so Google image search makes me happiest. I ended up searching English gardens for ideas, clicked on an image link - and another and another - and ended up spending much time reading an interesting article called Lessons From A Legendary Gardener. Now this is definitely not an article about small space gardening or even vertical garden planning, but it was entertaining and did give me some good direction about planning a Winter garden. Rosemary Verey loves her garden in the winter, I watched the video thinking she'd be a little ol' crazy lady but she wasn't! She honestly did have a true appreciation of plants, trees & bushes in cold & snowy circumstances. Hmm, odd, but not crazy!
Here in the Northwest, Summer is the shortest season of them all, followed and preceded by the rainy season which usually has a snow season tucked somewhere in the middle. That's how I look at it: Summer season & Rain season. I live in a wetland surrounded my rainforests - not technically, no, but figuratively yes. Why then should I focus on annual Spring or Fall flowers? It just makes sense to plan first and foremost for cold & wet. 3 months of a nice garden with 9 months of sad, or 9 months of nice with 3 months of fantastic! Rosemary Verey said she liked to focus on the evergreens in gardens first, so that's exactly what I'm going to try. Why plant pretty things to hide that hideous carport in the Summer season but then be forced to view it during the other 9 months of the year? Yay! I have gone from desperate idea gathering to at least 1 good idea. Thank you Ms. Verey. :)
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